in becoming a member of your house, I staked my all on the aristocratic institutions of the State. I abandoned certain wealth, a large income, and much real power in the state, for an office of great trouble, heavy responsibility, and very uncertain duration. I say, I gave up substantial power for the shadow of it, and for distinction depending upon accident. I quitted the elevated station of representative for Yorkshire, and a leading member of the Commons. I descended from a position quite lofty enough to gratify any man's ambition; and my lot became bound up in the stability of this House. Then, have I not a right to throw myself on your justice, and to desire that you will not put in jeopardy all I have now left. My Lords, I do not disguise the intense solicitude which I feel for the event of this debate; because I know full well that the peace of the country is involved in the issue. I cannot look without dismay at the rejection of the measure; but grievous as may be the consequences of a temporary defeat, temporary it can only be, for its ultimate, and even speedy success, is certain; nothing can now stop it. Do not suffer yourselves to be persuaded, that even if the present ministers were driven from the helm, any one would steer you through the troubles that surround you, without reform. But our successors would take up the task in circumstances far less auspicious; under them you would be fain to grant a bill, compared with which, the one we now proffer you is moderate indeed. Hear the parable of the Sibyl; for it conveys a wise and wholesome matter. She now appears at your gate, and offers you mildly the volumes-the precious volumes of wisdom and peace: the price she asks is reasonable to restore the franchise; which, without any bargain, you ought voluntarily to give. You refuse her terms-her moderate terms; she darkens the porch no longer. But soon, for you cannot do without her wares, you call her back again she comes, but with diminished measures; the leaves of the book are in part torn away by lawless hands; in parts defaced by characters of blood. But the prophetic maid has risen in her demands, it is Parliament by the year--it is vote by ballot-it is suffrage by the million ! From this you turn away indignant, and for the second time she departs. Beware of her third coming, for the treasure you must have; and what price she may next demand who can tell? It may even be the mace which rests upon that woolsack. What may follow your course of obstinacy, if persisted in, I cannot take upon me to predict, nor do I wish to conjecture; but this I know full well, that as sure as man is mortal, and to err is human, justice deferred enhances the price at which you must purchase safety and peace; nor can you expect to gather in another crop, than they did who went before you, if you persevere in their utterly abominable husbandry of sowing industry and reaping rebellion. But among the awful considerations that now bow down my mind, there is one which stands pre-eminent above the rest. You are the highest judicature in the realm; you sit here a judge, and decide all causes, civil and criminal, without appeal. It is the judge's first duty, never to pronounce sentence, in the most trifling case, without hearing. Will you make this the exception? Are you really prepared to determine, but not to hear, the mighty cause upon which a nation's hopes and fears hang? You are! Then beware of your decision. Rouse not, I beseech you, a peace-loving but a resolute people; alienate not from your body the affections of a whole empire. As your friend, as the friend of my order, as the friend of my country, as the faithful servant of the Sovereign, I counsel you to assist, with your uttermost efforts, in preserving the peace, and upholding and perpetuating the constitution. Therefore I pray and exhort you not to reject this measure, by all you hold most dear, by all the ties that bind every one of us to our common order, and our common country; I solemnly adjure you— I warn you-I implore you-yea, on my bended knees, I supplicate you-Reject not this Bill. LORD BROUGHAM. SPEECH FOR HAMILTON ROWAN. THIS paper, gentlemen, insists upon the necessity of emancipating the Catholics of Ireland, and that is charged as part of the libel. If they had waited another year—if they had kept this prosecution impending for another yearhow much would remain for a jury to decide upon, I should be at a loss to discover. It seems as if the progress of public information was eating away the ground of the prosecution. Since the commencement of the prosecution, this part of the libel has unluckily received the sanction of the Legislature. In that interval, our Catholic brethren have obtained that admission, which it seems it was a libel to propose. In what way to account for this I am really at a loss. Have any alarms been occasioned by the emancipation of our Catholic brethren ? Has the bigoted malignity of any individuals been crushed? Or has the stability of the Government, or that of the country, been weakened? Or is one million of subjects stronger than four millions? Do you think that the benefit they received should be poisoned by the sting of vengeance? If you think so, you must say to them-" You have demanded emancipation, and you have got it: but we abhor your persons; we are outraged at your success; and we will stigmatise, by a criminal prosecution, the adviser of that relief which you have obtained from the voice of your country." I ask you, do you think, as honest men, anxious for the public tranquillity, conscious that there are wounds not yet completely cicatrized, that you ought to speak this language, at this time, to men who are too much disposed to think, that in this very emancipation they have been saved from their own Parliament by the humanity of their sovereign? Or do you wish to prepare them for the revocation of these improvident concessions? Do you think it wise or humane, at this moment, to insult them, by sticking up in a pillory the man who dared to stand forth as their advocate? I put it to your oaths: Do you think that a blessing of that kind -that a victory obtained by justice over bigotry and oppression-should have a stigma cast upon it, by an ignominious sentence upon men bold and honest enough to propose that measure ?-To propose the redeeming of religion from the abuses of the Church, the reclaiming of three millions of men from bondage, and giving liberty to all who had a right to demand it; giving, I say, in the so-much-censured words of this paper, Universal Emancipation!" I speak in the spirit of the British law, which makes liberty commensurate with, and inseparable from, British soil-which proclaims, even to the stranger and 66 sojourner, the moment he sets his foot on British earth, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by the genius of Universal Emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced ;—no matter in what complexion incompatible with freedom, an Indian or an African sun may have burned upon him ;-no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down;—no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery: the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of Universal Emancipation. CURRAN. 164 DIALOGUES. ARTHUR AND HUBERT.-KING JOHN. Arth. Good morrow, Hubert. Hub. Good morrow, little prince. Arth. As little prince (having so great a title To be more prince), as may be.—You are sad. Hub. Indeed, I have been merrier. Arth. Mercy on me! Methinks, no body should be sad but I : Is it my fault that I was Geoffrey's son? [Aside. Arth. Are you sick, Hubert? you look pale to-day foolish rheum ? Turning dispiteous torture out of door! I must be brief; lest resolution drop Out at mine eyes, in tender womanish tears.- bosom. : How now, [Aside. |